Windows/Mac/Linux: A whopping two years at its second major release, Mozilla's popular desktop email client Thunderbird is now available as the new and improved Thunderbird 3.0, and there's a lot to love in the new Thunderbird.

Windows/Mac/Linux: The good folks at Mozilla dropped the latest version 2.0 of the Thunderbird…
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Thunderbird 3.0 comes packed with fantastic new features, including a new tabbed interface à la Firefox and other web browsers, a beautiful and powerful new search and filtering tool that lets you pinpoint any email, and a totally streamlined email setup tool that'll get your Gmail or other accounts up and running with Thunderbird in a jiffy.

After firing it up for the first time and adding my Gmail account, the new Thunderbird feels extremely fast, but the improved search really is the feature most likely to wow. It's also very fast, and it lets you filter by messages to you, from you, starred messages (if you're a Gmail user), and attachments. It even quickly identifies people who participated in messages matching your search terms and quickly lists them in the People section of the filter sidebar to help you narrow it down even more quickly.

Even if you don't plan on using Thunderbird as your main email client, it's an excellent tool for simply backing up your email—or even for accessing Gmail when it's down. Thunderbird 3.0 is a free download for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. If you're a Thunderbird die-hard, let's hear how you like the latest release in the comments. (You can find the full release notes here.)